Peter Thiel, founder of Pay Pal, wants to know in Fortune Magazine.
The heads-down, can-do entrepreneurs, and libertarian-minded financiers who populate the tech industry aren't typically the sorts to long for a government handout. But in the wake of the Treasury Department's $700-billion-plus rescue plan, Peter Thiel speaks for many when he asks a simple question: "What happened to the dot-com bailout?"
Thiel's not serious - at least not entirely. As founder of hedge fund Clarium Capital and VC firm Founders Fund - with early investments in Facebook, Slide, and LinkedIn, among others - he doesn't need anyone's charity. But as far as bailouts go, his point is that rescuing the Valley would have at least sent a positive message. Even the most vapid online pet-food delivery business looks benign next to arcane financial instruments designed to line the pockets of investment bankers. "It is an odd reflection on the priorities of our society," Thiel says, "that we value finance over technological innovation."
The article moves on to considering the tech sector in the wake of the financial crisis, which tends to create some of our good jobs.
This shouldn't surprise us as anecdoctale evidence suggests that people want to be in jobs that seem more "secure"
Renee Rogers, a technology-recruiting manager at Manhattan-based Connections, said that the influx of Wall Streeters into the tech sector accelerated after the collapse of Bear Stearns.
"Younger people used to want the name Goldman or Lehman on their résumés," she said. "But things have changed. Now it's places like Google."
Another New York finance recruiter added, "Of course some people are looking to get off Wall Street.
"When your workday consists of worrying about whether you'll have a job the next day, a lot of options start to sound good."
Perhaps capital is necessary to innovation, and not vice versa.
Certainly, credit is necessary for payroll. Without payroll, nobody can buy innovation.
Posted by: caveat bettor | October 07, 2008 at 02:00 PM